Contributors

Friday, October 2, 2009

A couple of us got together the other night to start a Wings of War campaign. One of the guys found the system online at the Fantasy Flight Games Forum. The campaign is entitled 'Knights of the Air' by Keith Upton. We decided to make this game a little more 'personal', so we divided into teams based on the origin of our surnames. Living in Southern Pennsylvania, we have plenty of Germans in the club, a smattering of Anglo-Americans, and even our lone Italian was present. So, with the lines drawn, I jumped in my Albatross and climbed into the sky for battle.

A view of the battlefield. The scenario rules allowed for the random placement of balloons and ground targets: machine guns and Anti-Aircraft guns. A point system would determine the victor for this simple dogfight scenario, with the winner advancing to the next scenario on the campaign map. The first couple of scenarios were to take place in 1916, so we used the following planes: Albatross, Rolands, Nieuports, and RE8s.The Players: Gerstner, Rothermel, Mueller, & Eisenhauer VS Bishop, Campbell, & D'Amato

I made a couple of control boards for the game, because we hadn't received enough in the boxed sets for all of the planes that we have. Plus, we need 24+ boards for our convention games. I took a quick trip to Michael's where I was able to find some cheap wooden plaques, spray painted red for the Germans and Olive Drab for the Allies, and drew on the appropriate card outlines representing the maneuver phases.

Flying across No-Man's Land

That's me, Baron Von Gerstner, flying the black Albatross. I make a mistake and fly dangerously close to the edge, which would take me out of play. The RE8 following me damages my rudder so I can't turn. There was nothing I could do but plot an Immelman and pray. It worked, but as I leveled out, the RE8 on my tail knocked me out of the sky. Luckily, I crash landed in No-Man's Land, and made a successful roll to evade the enemy and make it back to German lines with only a few scratches.That damn Italian chasing down one of our Rolands.

With the Allied balloon burning on it's way down to the ground, the battle turns to a fight around the German balloon. Smoke from the burning wrecks fill the air. Although it looked like an Allied victory because of all the downed German planes, the points told a different story. The Germans were able to squeak out a win. Flushed with victory, we returned home to drink beer and tell tales of the battle.Scenario 2 to follow, plus our review of the campaign system.